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Figures tell the story of the costs of poor balance

Susan Bloom, Correspondent;
12:02 a.m. EDT April 22, 2014

According to Charles Curtis, regional director of Crest Physical Therapy in West Long Branch, “movement is critical to healthy aging and if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.”
(Photo:
PHOTO COURTESY OF CREST PHYSICAL THERAPY
)

Statistics show the financial costs — let alone the health problems — caused by falls are staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control:

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One in three adults aged 65 and older falls each year. Of those, 20 percent to 30 percent suffer moderate-to-severe injuries that make it hard for them to get around or live independently and increase their risk of early death.

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Older adults are hospitalized for fall-related injuries five times more often than they are for injuries from other causes.

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In 2011, emergency departments treated 2.4 million non-fatal fall injuries among older adults; more than 689,000 of these patients had to be hospitalized.

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In 2010, the total direct medical costs of fall injuries for people 65 and older was $30 billion and by 2020 this number is expected to reach $67.7 billion.

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Costs of both fatal and non-fatal falls are higher for women than for men.

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Fractures are both the most common and most costly nonfatal injuries — as of 2000, just over one-third of nonfatal injuries were fractures, but these accounted for 61 percent of total non-fatal costs. Of total fractures, hip fractures are the most serious and costly fall-related fracture.